My Texans 2012 draft grades + yours

Are you looking for positive affirmations of your favorite team’s draft picks? Well then, here’s a sticker. You have to go someplace else for a cookie.

As long time readers know, I am non-fond of draft grades. They are sort of silly given that players haven’t played a down. And they are usually done by looking at consensus draft boards, figuring out whether players were picked higher or lower than consensus, and grading accordingly.

By that measure, the Texans usually get knocked a bit. The Texans value scheme fit and hard workers who love football higher than some franchises do, and it is reflected by their choices. The only certainty of the Texans draft is they will pick a few surprises every draft. Often those surprise/so-called-reach picks end up working out well for them. See e.g. Duane Brown.

All that being said, readers love grades which means editors love grades even if they think they are juvenile and garbage, so I will come up with my own silly grading system. And give you some homework:

Your assignment for this blog post: 1. Please name which guys in the Texans 2012 rookie class, both drafted and undrafted that you are most interested in closely following/think will do well. 2. Extra credit for showing your work: Give links that you think other fans would be interested in reading. If you are an alumni of the school that a player went to, tell your thoughts about the players. (Some of the most enthusiastic alums visiting the blog came from Alabama with DeMeco Ryans and Wisconsin with JJ Watt).

I really would like for people to do good comments to this post. It can serve as an interesting time capsule to look back at.

Post-Draft Resources.

If you would like to find additional information on any of the draft picks, I suggest the following resources in addition to the one’s in the Houston Chronicle:

4. Google Search (Duh). There is so much more coverage of the draft these days that many of the players the Texans drafted were coveted by other teams’ fanbases. So you can find things from other newspapers and blogs that were written before the draft.

For your homework, I really do want you to share your best links about these players in the comments. If we all work together, we will get a lot of good reading material to help cope with this overly long off-season. (We really need the Astros, Rockets to be better sooner. It helps).

My Very Silly 2012 Texans Draft Grades:

I have no idea how well these rooks will play. But I am always interested to know more about them, and to know more of what the Texans were thinking when they chose particular picks.

Whitney Mercilus, Illinois, OLB (6-4, 261)

Wrote about him already here. Rick Smith in his post-draft interviews various places ( 790 / 1560 ) says with Wade’s 3-4, you want to have at least 3 pass rushers.

Texans trade out of the 2nd round to get multiple picks in 3rd, 4th rounds. They do not take Rueben Randle like many thought they would, nor do a lot of teams take Randle.

I think Randle went to a good situation (a team that uses wide receivers well and has competent QB play), but from what I hear, some teams passed on Randle due to work ethic + skill concerns. For whatever that’s worth. I don’t know the guy so I don’t know. He may be the hardest worker ever.

Instead of focusing too much on who the Texans didn’t get, how about the player they did get? Some people may not have projected Posey to the Texans due to character concerns, but I think that is overblown by some fans. Rick Smith has repeatedly said that he realizes not all players are choir boys, but he is looking to see whether players who have made mistakes have learned from them. And whether those character concerns will likely inhibit the ability of the player to play hard, learn the game.

I believe the Texans have some of the best offensive line coaching in the league. It will be interesting to see what they do with someone with this sort of size and athletic skills. Offensive Coordinator, Rick Dennison talks some on the Brooks pick here.

My grade for this pick:

Very very sad Colts fans.

Let’s see. Colts drafted a bunch of players on offense. The Texans have already been able to run like crazy on the Colts. Sure would be nice if Brooks could be blowing up fools in the running game, going home, reading the Economist.

Ben Jones, Georgia, Center (6-3, 303)

Rick Smith was particularly enthusiastic about this pick. Says the intent is to give the Texans more roster flexibility on game day. Jones is another one of those captain of the college team picks that the Texans like.

My grade for the pick:

Texans often take players from the south. Jones is happy to be staying in the south. Let’s see if he still feels that way when attending the Texans very hot training camp.

Keshawn Martin, Michigan State, WR (5-11, 188)

Texans like rookies, particularly WRs who can contribute on special teams. What’s nice about Martin is that he can do returns, but isn’t such a small size that he is a liability on offense as far as blocking, being a target.

Lots of articles about this pick. This one wins the award for most stereotypical lede:

“Keshawn Martin may have to get accustomed to wearing cowboy boots or a 10-gallon hat, but the Westland John Glenn High grad hopes to become a great fit in a Houston Texans uniform.”

Ugh.

My grade for pick:

Yee Haw! Some people see this returner as the end of Jacoby Jones as a Texan. Rick Smith is publicly saying in interviews that Jones is the current “whipping boy” for the fans and has “won us some games.” Which are all the right things for him to say publicly.

Martin is the type of very productive college receiver that Walsh-coaching tree teams like to target.

Jared Crick, Nebraska, DE (6-4, 279)

I like this pick for the combination of Texans kinda-guy, value, boy I’d love to see what Wade Phillips does with this guy. Doug Farrar of Yahoo! Sports Shutdown Corner has him on his list of great 4th round values, and calls him the “Perfect marriage of player and scheme.”

Rick Smith says that Crick is completely recovered from his torn pec muscle and doesn’t see him being limited in camp.

Also, read his Nebraska bio. Great combo of performance + loves football + good character. One of those Texans picks like how you’d want your son to be if he were huge and you were okay with him playing football.

My grade for pick:

Sad face Blaine Gabbert.

Some fans may not like the Texans taking as many line picks as they did, but I’m actually happy when the Texans use the draft to get “brussel sprouts” kind of picks. It may not be as flashy as some of the skill positions, but the AFC South folks shouldn’t be happy that the Texans have reloaded their lines for depth, rotational purposes. There’s a lot to be said for the New York Giants approach of hoarding pass rushers.

Randy Bullock Texas A&M, K (5-9, 205)

The Texans now have a kicker on the roster. He is a rookie. Scary. He won the award for the best kicker in the country so this isn’t just a Aggie pick. He went to Klein high school in Houston, so you will likely know someone who knows him. My friend Courtney says he has gigantic legs not that she has seen them in an inappropriate way.

Would make sense he has giant legs. I’m just a little shorter than 5-9, and being over 200 lbs at that height is pretty thick.

My grade for pick:

Hopefully, the kicking game isn’t an adventure for the Texans. In 2010, it was an issue given so many close games. Last year, the kicking game really didn’t have that many opportunities to be the difference maker, but it was always a back of the head concern: “Uh oh, Texans may need to make a long kick. Oh please don’t even try.”

The repeated thing the Texans say about this pick is how strong Bullock’s leg is. Perhaps. But they will be bringing in competition in camp even so.

Nick Mondek, Purdue, OT or OG or ? athlete (6-6, 304)

The Texans like athletic guys who’s skills project to the NFL and who are willing to do whatever the team asks them to do. Mondek appears to be that guy. His story is that he started out on the defensive line but moved to offensive line after his team had that need. Very fast for a guy his size.

His official Purdue bio says he “enjoys wakeboarding, snowboarding and photography.” That would be some big dude coming down the slopes. You need to be fairly agile at any size to wakeboard and snowboard. Just don’t do that any more and get hurt.

Texans like guys at bottom of the draft that are like Swiss Army knives. Useful. Can do lots of things and will do anything that they are asked to do.

Undrafted Rookie Free Agents.

The first speech that Gary Kubiak gives the entire team each season usually includes telling them that he doesn’t care how the players got to the team and where they were drafted, but that he is interested in the effort they bring and preparing like a professional. He has a long history of developing undrafted rookies, from Rod Smith with the Broncos to obviously Arian Foster with the Texans.

For these players, it is all about effort during camp, being lucky staying healthy, standing out on special teams, getting an opportunity. The drafted players have a leg up due to the draft pick invested, but if you look at the entirety of the roster, it is mostly about effort guys. Even the drafted players are often players who were not highly recruited coming out of high school or changed positions, and were self-made. JJ Watt is probably the most obvious example.

Ones in particular who have been getting a lot of buzz are: Fangupo, Jones, Keenum, Loiseau, Pleasant.

Rick Smith repeatedly mentioned Pleasant in his radio interviews, though he mentioned he didn’t feel comfortable saying too much about any one guy.

Think this is a very nice haul of UDFA for a team that isn’t completely rebuilding. A lot of times UDFAs want to go to terrible teams with a lot of needs in order to get a better chance of making a team.

Your thoughts. You know where they go. Remember, please share any cool links to draft stuff you think other fans might like.

What was particularly nice in learning more about the opera was to find out more about the Bum Phillips Charities. When the artistic director approached Bum about this project, he wasn’t quite sure what to make of it other than it sounding like it would be a “hoot.” Bum was good with it as long as the material was handled respectfully, and figured it would be a nice way to bring more attention to his charitable foundation.

The opera is inspired by the book about Bum called, “Bum Phillips: Coach, Cowboy, Christian.” I haven’t read it (yet), but I understand it is a very good book. It’s a self-published, and all the proceeds of it go to helping his charitable works.

Need a really cool gift (for yourself or others)? For $30, you can get a autographed copy of his book. It’s hard to find in stores, though the Go Texans shop at Reliant often has it, but you can order the autographed copy through the Bum Phillips Charity website. Father’s day is right around the corner though I know plenty of mom’s who would like it too.